


What you find in the trash - 30 A.B.

by FanFicReader01



Series: The Unknown Below [7]
Category: Original Work, Poets of the Fall
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Slice of Life, life - Freeform, travelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 04:36:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20203819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: “Karlus! You found anything interesting?!”“Yes, come over. Quickly!”





	What you find in the trash - 30 A.B.

**Author's Note:**

> That's story 7 for you!

I’m scouting the upper islands while my partner is looking on the lower islands. Damn it, it’s not easy to find proper drawing equipment in this wasteland. Most paint I find is obviously dried out. Brushes are stiffened up by old paint and barely washable anymore. So I often have to make brushes and paint myself. While I’m searching for materials to use, something catches my eye. It’s funny to see an old phone booth in the middle of nowhere floating by like it’s nothing. Hell, even when I was a teenager, these booths were considered ‘old-school’. I guess people nowadays call it ancient. Inside the stall is the phone’s dangling from its broken cord. Rotten paper and other yucky stuff I don’t even want to know the origin from lay on the floor. Quickly I get outside. “Karlus! You found anything interesting?!”

“Yes, come over. Quickly!”

Excited for what my partner has found, I jump down the rocks before jumping onto my skyboard to assure a safe trip down the other islands that can’t be crossed by foot. I stop by an island with an old car on it. The roof has collapsed. Making it impossible to get inside. I get a bit nostalgic looking at the rusty thing. Karlus is inspecting the vehicle.

“Look, signs of living!” he exclaims as he points out footsteps in the grass.

“But no painting supplies?” I sigh, still hoping but assuming the reply is probably negative.

“Nope. Anyway, I wonder where the person went to?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” Karlus points out more signs that show the person or Escapist must’ve climbed even deeper.

“You sure we want to find out?”

“Got nothing to do today anymore,” Karlus shrugs his shoulders. I have to agree. Our main scavenging hunt is done. At the moment we have enough supplies to make our way back to Trash City. The last few days had been agonizing long and extremely boring so this might provide something thrilling. I follow Karlus downward. We end up at huge crater. My jaw drops at the mere sight. I doubt we’ve ever descended this far. Looking at the huge gap in front of me, makes me shiver. I quickly glare over at my friend. He seems to be in the same state, but less frightened.

“Whoa,” he stammers.

“Whoa,” I repeat. My eyes scan the crater and then something stands out of it. A flash detaches itself from the environment.

“Karlus! Somebody’s jumping!” I yell as I’m already jumping onto my board. Karlus is quick to follow on his own skyboard as we fly to the person’s rescue. The person falls at a tremendous speed so I have to adjust the velocity on my board to synch up. The deeper we go, the eerier I feel. Like a strange entity is dragging us inside the crater. Luckily I catch up to the falling person. Upon close, I see it’s indeed a person. A man whose hair is blonder than mine. I grab the guy’s ankle and scream when his weight pulls me down as well. Luckily, Karlus is my back up. He stabilizes our fall until we’re both back on our feet with me holding the stranger in my arms. Slowly we ascend while I carry the stranger. The man must’ve fallen unconscious. Once we’re outside the crater, I remark: “Let’s go to higher ground. I don’t feel well.”

“Same,” Karlus grunts. We fly back to the island where our bags are. We take it and then we reach even higher.

We land on a safe and large piece of land. Carefully I lay the stranger onto the ground. Karlus has laid a blanket there to make it even more comfortable. I take out my pillow to support the man’s head.

“A suicidal guy,” Karlus snorts as he peers at the man.

“Apparently. But man, there was a strange pull down there. Almost as if the crater wanted to swallow us all.” I visibly shudder at the thought. Karlus puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. I look into his warm eyes and smile back at him.

“I felt it too. Do you think this guy succumbed to that ‘call’ of that crater?”

“Perhaps,” I mutter.

I put a hand against the stranger’s forehead. He doesn’t feel cold or too hot. I doubt he’s in a critical state. Carefully we try to bring the unconscious man back to his senses.

“Hey, hey, can you hear us?” I try.

First there’s no response. Karlus waves his hand in front of the guy’s eyes. And together with some spoken words, the stranger finally flinches his eyes until he opens them fully. Confusion is fully readable over his entire face.

“W-where am I? D-did I enter Oblivion? Am I in heaven?”

“If you mean that gaping black hole down there, then the answer is no,” I reply. “And you’re not in heaven either. You’re in the land of the living.”

The man tries to get up, but immediately falls back down. Sweat starts to form on his face. He closes his eyes shut and grunts. “You should’ve let me fall.”

“Why that?” Karlus exclaims. “We didn’t save your ass just so we hear you tell you wanted this.”

“Hush,” I intervene. I put my attention back to the stranger and ask: “Do you have a name? Or a nickname to call you by?”

“It’s…,” some silence follows as the man tries to regain some memories. “Marko.”

“Good then, Marko. Whether you like it or not, we’re going to take you with us. We’re headed to Trash City. During that trip you can talk all about what lead you to this point. But we won’t let you go, just for you to jump back into that weird pit, okay? We don’t let people die like that. Not if we can help them.”

Again, Marko grunts and sighs in defeat.

\--

“That pit you say, it’s called Oblivion,” after hours without talking, Marko speaks up to us. I’m making a fire while Karlus sets up a tent and our extra companion sits next to me.

“And what it do?” Karlus wants to know.

“Make you suffer from oblivion?” I chuckle but Marko then nods.

“That’s what I hope it would do. To make me forget everything. To vanish from this hellish earth,” the blond peers into the fresh fire.

“And what if you’d find out, you’d die a tragic death? Nobody seems to really know what lays below. What awaits them,” I huff.

“Then I’d have to accept. But either way, I’m destined to die a horrible death anyway.”

We don’t say a word. We don’t know what to reply. Marko continues. “This world is blown to pieces. We live from day to day. And-, and… We can’t ever go back to which we came from. The old world is gone. Forever. I don’t want to live in the aftermath.”

I clench my fists. I lived in that old world as well. I was only fourteen years old. Suddenly I remember the panic, all the deaths and the incredible chaos, too much to fathom for a teen. My heart hurts thinking about it. But somehow I recovered, and the world healed with me. Karlus has been there too. He was even younger than me.

I look at Marko. His eyes seem so dull. Deprived of will. I gulp. That’s when I decide to open my mouth as well.

“You know, I’ve been there too. I used to live in the old world as well. So I know the feelings you have. Or well, I think they’re relatable. There have been many nights and days I thought: I wish we could go back to the old times. But I too, know we can’t. So I tried to adapt and live my life in these new world. And it was difficult to accept that. It still is, really.”

“So how do you do it? I see you got a friend,” Marko nods at Karlus.

“Well, friends are one thing that help me through this. They got my back. They literally save me when I fall down. They are there to pull me back up. And I’ll do the same for them.”

“That’s right,” Karlus joins in. After he’s completely done with the tent he sits next to us at the small campfire. “And Hob here, motivates me to keep on living. He gives me a _reason_ to live.”

Marko shows a faint smile that turns grim fast. “And what if you don’t have friends? Nor any family that is alive anymore? What do you do then?”

Karlus and I exchange difficult looks. That makes this guy’s life not easy then.

“I-, well… If you want, we can help you give meaning to your life,” I hesitatingly reply. The hesitation lays in the fact that I’m not sure if we’re _able to_.

“You would?” For the first time since these hours we spend together, Marko’s eyes seem to light up. Maybe it’s just the fire’s reflection, or his eyes really do glimmer.

“Yes. I told you, we don’t want people to die just like that.”

“And I can’t accept there’s nothing in this world that can’t make you excited to be alive,” Karlus exclaims. His eyes are filled with determination and that makes me happy. I nod in silent agreement.

“I see,” Marko mutters. “I’ll give you two a chance.”

“And yourself,” I add in a low voice.

\--

The next day I spot a large ruin. A few walls are all that remains. Karlus gives me a meaningful look and I nod. Quickly I look into my art supply’s bag. One can of paint. That will do for a minor art piece.

“Got enough.”

“Great.” Karlus and Marko go first. It’s funny to see two grown men on one skyboard. It leaves me with the majority of our baggage though. We settle at the ruins and Marko seems confused on what’s going on. I give him a grin as I take out the can and a self-made brush.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m going to paint some stuff,” I simply reply.

“You-, what? I-Is that even allowed?”

I look around me and shrug my shoulders. “No one’s around to judge me. Not even any form of authority seems to mind nowadays.” I walk around the walls to see what’s the best place for my art. Most surfaces are too rough and-, ah, here’s a nice clean wall! It’s no the biggest one but it will do. I don’t have much paint left anyway. Quickly I stir the paint with a wooden stick before I dip the brush into it.

With some hand gestures I manage to calculate the canvas width and height and then I get to work.

Karlus in the meantime is looking in our snack bag. He takes out one plastic bag with chips. He offers me some but I kindly turn down the offer.

“Marko, you want some?”

“_Chips_? Where’d you get those?!”

“In Trash City. My friend makes them. She’s the best cook in town. Man, have you been living under a rock or what?”

“Guess you could say that. Last years I mainly roamed this place all by myself,” Marko takes a hand full of chips and looks away. I concentrate back on my painting.

“Damn. Must’ve been lonely,” Karlus wonders.

“Not always. At first, I thought that’s what I needed. But that solitude turned into isolation from others. Guess I’ve estranged myself.” I then hear Karlus pat Marko’s shoulder as comfort.

“But now you’re with us. We’ll help you.”

“Hey, guys, what do you think of this?” I ask after I finished the contour. Marko and Karlus stand up and have a look.

“Is that… supposed to be a bird?” our companion asks.

“Yes. Does it look that bad?” I snort, half offended.

“It does look like it,” Karlus nods but then starts to giggle. I throw him a look and he steps back.

“I didn’t mean it looks bad! It’s… unique. Kudos, for drawing at all. I haven’t done it in years,” Marko says. A fellow artist, huh. Without hesitating, I offer him my brush. “Care to finish it or draw something yourself?”

“What? I haven’t drawn in years! I don’t know if I still can,” Marko stammers.

“You can always try,” I encourage.

“O-okay, then. I guess I’ll just paint in some of its feathers,” the man takes my brush with trembling hand. I step back and stand next to my partner.

“I’ll have some of those chippies now,” I quickly hint.

Together, hand in hand, we watch our new traveling companion paint. Slowly he gets into it and by the time he’s finished we applaud him. It makes Marko blush. And most important, he looks _happy_ for once.

“It looks neat,” I say.

“Well done,” Karlus smiles.

“So why do you draw?” Marko hands over the paint supplies and I put them away.

“To find some sort of fun in this life,” I say.

\--

During the next days, I’m glad to see Marko open up to us. We’ve exchanged some stories about our past lives. Just like us, Marko was young when the Blast took away our previous lives on earth. We lament the past at a small campfire once.

“We’ll never get it back.”

“No. But we can’t stay in that past. Even if there’s no future for us, we have to live,” I say. It sounds incredibly cruel but it is as it is.

“And to make it less painful, Hob paints. And I watch him do it and admire it. Makes me wish I could draw,” Karlus murmurs. I smile and rest my head against his shoulder.

“It’s great you two have each other.”

“And we have our city. Though, it’s more of a big town,” Karlus says. “If you want and try, it can be your home too.”

“Maybe,” Marko smiles. “Thank you, for saving me. I’ll try my best.”

\--

A week later we’re finally back in Trash City. Marko is impressed but I also see a hint of disgust. I can’t blame him though. There’s a reason this town I called _Trash_ City after all. I put my hand on the other blonde’s shoulder and say: “If you can’t get used to this place. You’re free to find another town. In fact, there’s plenty of liveable Floating Islands.”

Marko doesn’t say anything. Well, time to go inside then.

We’re instantly greeted by the community. Some clearly miss us, others say we could’ve stayed longer from home. Yep, that’s Trash City for us. After putting our baggage at our little apartment, we go down town to the local restaurant. Karlus goes in first.

“Maríaaa! We’re back in tooown!” he immediately declares. I sigh. Ever bombastic.

“I know, _pendejo_. I already heard you coming from miles away,” the woman at the bar has her arms crossed as she rolls her eyes. “_Everybody_ knows when the two biggest idiots return.”

I drop a bag of new goods in front of her. “The most _useful_ idiots, that is,” I counter with a cocky smile. There are not many Scavengers here that manage to come back to the city alive. Miraculously, we do despite all our weird encounters and shenanigans.

“We missed you too,_ bonita_,” Karlus sarcastically and not sarcastically smiles at the woman.

María inspects the new kitchen supplies and ogles Marko from time to time. “He’s with you, right?”

“Yes. We found him at the depths of hell,” Karlus jokes but María seems unfazed by the mention.

“I’m Marko. N-nice to meet you.”

“Will do so later,” María mutters, more focused on the bag. Suddenly she jumps up. “Hob, what the fuck is _this_ supposed to do in the bag?!”

“What?” Confused I look into the bag as well and my face goes red. It’s an obvious sex toy. Immediately I look into Karlus’ direction who only giggles and scratches his hair. “Whoops, must’ve misplaced it.”

“_This_ is why nobody told you what Karlus’ job in this city is,” I sigh. Still confused, Marko remains quiet.

“I run the city’s sex shop. Look, these days many people need to take their edge off and what better way to do it than with-”

“Alright, Marko knows enough!” I cut my friend off.

“Thanks for the supplies, Hob. Done a good job. Here’s some compensation for the trouble.” María changes the subject and gives me some coin.

We thank her and quickly leave the restaurant. Out on the street, Marko seems a bit clueless. “What are you going to do now?”

“You can stay at our place,” I reply. “Karlus and I will fetch you an own room in the upcoming days. If you want, of course. Or did you change your mind?”

Marko quickly shakes his head. “No, no. This is fine.”

Later that day we visit the restaurant as clients. Our new friend is amazed by the choice on the menu.

“You see, not everything of the old world is dead,” Karlus chuckles.

“I see, I see. I-, thank you guys.”

“You’re welcome. Have you picked a dish?”

I’m glad to have a decent meal again. One that feels like the old days. I relish in the food and looking up from my plate I see my companions do the same. Marko even has tears in his eyes.

“This… This tastes amazing! I’ll have my regards to the chef!”

“Compliments taken,” María suddenly stands next to us. Apron on and all. She smiles.

Marko blushes a little. “Really. I haven’t had such meal in years. It tastes like…_home_.”

“You better savour this moment then, _vato_,” María comments.

“Huh?”

“May my cooking be part of your reason to stay alive,” she says with a playful wink.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Marko wipes away his tears and takes a sip of his beer.

“_Bueno_. After all, it’s these little things that make this world more pleasant to live in. Keep that in mind,” María says. Karlus and I nod in unison to that. It has been our motto to live by ever since we came to this place. Marko again weeps a bit.

“I will, I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ahha, originally this was just going to be a story about Hob n Karlus being scavengers, exploring the wastes in search of supplies xD  
But it turned out a bit more after I decided it'd be them to find and rescue Marko from Oblivion eehehhe


End file.
